Holy Oly Revival – The Ocho

The 8th annual Holy Oly Revival went down this past Saturday at Summit at Snoqualmie in the Cascade Mountains. The Holy Oly is a contest in the sense that winners are named and prizes are awarded. On the other hand, first prize is a pallet of Olympia beer and it’s more of a celebration of Northwest snowboarding than a high-pressure contest situation. The focus of the event is a gigantic quarterpipe, but there’s also a slopestyle zone to mix it up. The NW has a lot of absolutely ripping locals and since it’s one of the few giant quarterpipes in the world, there’s always some pros in attendance as well. No matter what level of rider, who would want to miss a chance to shred with your bros in a celebratory atmosphere while watching great riding and lapping the chair?

The Northwest has some radical weather, so radical, in fact, that the Holy Oly, originally scheduled for February was moved to April for this year. The quarterpipe was in the 25-27 foot range. Things went really smoothly, the only issue was getting speed, but everyone figured it out and airs were way overhead by the time the event was over. Riders like Peter Line, Jay Kelly, Austin Hironaka, Russell Winfield, Manuel Diaz, Allister Schultz, Joey McGuire, and more shredded the heck out of the QP while the crowd enjoyed the action, eating free Cobra Dogs and drinking various beverages. Manuel Diaz from Chile won the title of Holiest of the Oly by going big all day and spinning a few big rotation some 40 feet above the ground.

Video by Shaun McKay

Here’s a few words from the winner Manuel Diaz:

TWS: How do you feel wining the Holy Oly?

MD: It’s amazing man, it’s been a great event for all the years I’ve been coming and all my friends work here. I feel almost like I am from the Northwest, it’s been eight years already that I’ve been going to nearby Stevens Pass. A couple of years ago I had so much fun here at the Oly and was so close to winning. It’s so much fun riding a quarterpipe, it’s the only time I ride one all year and I am so stoked to win.

TWS: You live in Chile, what brings you up to Washington?

MD: I go to Stevens to shred some powder and shoot some pictures with my friends over there.

TWS: What did you put down to win?

MD: I think it was the backside rodeo and some airs.

The slope section, Tube City, was going off all day, in fact Tube City may have eclipsed the quarterpipe as far as the number of riders go. Ben Bilocq, Johnny Lazz, Ivan Marcenko were a few of the many riders ripping tube city. Forrest Bailey absolutely killed it for the whole event, four hours of hiking it and shredding until the very end. Forrest just put on a display, working the tubes with a combo of tech, precision and style and deservedly winning the title of Mayor of Tube City. Really, everyone who showed up was a winner though.

Peter Line on course at the Holy Oly at Summit at Snowqualmie. Photo: George Crosland